Arendt: Terror is the very essence of Totalitarian Regimes
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Arendt: Terror is the very essence of Totalitarian Regimes
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Terror, then, was not a means for totalitarian regimes, but, in Arendt's views, their very essence. But this raises two important questions. First, how can a regime whose essence is terror come to power in the first place? What was its basis of mass appeal? Secondly, how it is that European culture . . . gave birth to these pathological experiments in what Arendt calls " total domination"
Let me attempt answering as the devil's advocate. First question: Why the hell not? On the other hand, why should a democratic regime do better in the quest for power? Arendt seems to advocate that power is based on mass appeal, which must be against totalitarianism. He is wrong, as has been proven time and time by history. Witness Nazism pre-WW2 in Central Europe. Second question: How can European culture gave birth. . .? If not European, should it be Asian, or Chinese? Put it this way. European Culture is no big deal. It does not have birthright more noble than it peers, though some may like to think it has. How about a dictatorship in Greece, the cradle of democracy? With respect, I would not call Arendt racist, but I cannot help harboring such suspicion.
On the very essence, i can see that Arendt has picked the right answer: Total Domination. Terror is a means for totalitarian regime, no more than it is a means for other regimes as well. Take all regimes to be rational, focusing on survival, respect. and flourish. Each regime would exercise whatever means available at its disposal. Some regime would exercise more discretion, leading to our opinion that, indeed, they are better.
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